Matter of Time
by Dusha
Summary: Ok, this was originally going to be a dikari for Tailmon, 2nd Guardian of Love's couples contest, but then i reread it and realized, while it does have some hinting at romance, it's not really the main point. oh well, i hope you like it! oh, and for you


matter of time

"I figured that you were the person to talk to. I've tried everything, but nothing works." Davis admitted. He was morosely studying the floor seeking advice from the person that he thought could help him the most. Not Izzy, or even Ken, who were both prodigies in their own right. He was seeking answers from the one person that he looked up to the most: Tai. Tai studied the newer digidestined that had looked up to him so many times as a role model. Silently he was glad that Davis was fixated on the floor of his room, and not on the older digidestined's face.

"Well, I suppose you may just being coming on to Kari too hard." Tai decided. Love wasn't exactly his specialty, and he usually left things of that matter up to Sora. Now that she was with Matt, it made doubly more sense for Davis to ask her about the woes of his love life. Nonetheless, Davis had urgently called on Tai for advice about the 'gentler sex'.

"To hard? I've done everything but throw myself at her feet! I've practically even done that! What more could she ask for?" Davis groaned. "It's not like I've exactly made it a secret that I like her." Much to Tai's surprise, Davis looked sincerely desperate about his current plight with Kari. It was true that Davis seized every chance he could to remind Kari that he had a crush on her, but Tai had never taken it too seriously. He had been convinced that it was puppy love, nothing more. Now though, he saw it in a different light. A young boy simply wanting to be accepted by the girl he admired. Reminded him somewhat of himself.

"That's just the problem, Davis. You wouldn't know this, but Kari's really into slow relationships. She talks about them all the time when Yolie comes over. They have all those girl talks about how their going to get married, and Kari always disagrees with Yolie on one point. Yolie wants a whirlwind romance. You know, knight in shinning armor, whisks her away and they get married the next day."

"But Kari wants to go out on dates and stuff?" Davis asked, beginning to catch on.

"I guess. She really wants to be friends with a guy before she goes out with them. They have to prove that they're going to be nice to her and care for her as much as she cares about everyone else." Tai added.

"I know. That's why I like Kari so much. She cares so much about other people. I mean, she's really pretty too, but she doesn't let it go to her head like some other girls. That's why she's different. In a good way." He hastily amended the last bit, and Tai smiled.

"Now you've got it. You've just got to show Kari that you appreciate her, no matter what. Support her in what she does and she'll begin to notice you. Trust me." Tai was surprised at his own good advice. He had never claimed to be 'Dr. Love' but it turned out he wasn't that bad at giving advice. Davis smiled at this revelation and got up. 

"Thanks Tai. I knew you'd know about stuff like this. I'm going to try and do all that stuff, you know, just being nice to Kari so she notices me. You should know her best, so I figured you'd be the one that could help me the most. Thanks!" Davis was about to bolt out of the room, eager to implement his new strategy when none other than Kari burst through the door.

"Tai, I have a problem. Oh, hi Davis, I didn't know you were here." Kari swung over to where her brother sat on the edge of his bed. "T.K. has a game tonight that I promised I'd go to. It's to go into the semi-finals for regionals. I forgot to tell Mom and she said I couldn't go unless someone else came with me. You know how over-protective she and Dad are. Can you please come with me? I promised and I called everyone else. Yolie has to do some mixing with Izzy for Matt's band, and Cody has to practice kendo. I even considered asking Ken, but decided not to because he lives so far away. Please?" she pleaded. Promptly forgetting that Davis was still in the room, Tai shook his head. 

"You see that?" He asked, gesturing to a small sky-scrapper of books and papers piled on his desk. One gust of wind from a passing body could easily overbalance it and cause it to topple unceremoniously to the ground. "That's homework that I have to make up. I've got to cram because I've got a really huge Algebra test coming up. If I don't start studying now I'm going to fail it for sure. I wish I could help Kari, but I can't."

Davis stood, staring at the two's conversation as it progressed. _You know, all I was going to do today was practice a little bit of soccer. This would be the perfect chance to be alone with Kari too! No! Wait, I have to remember what Tai said. After all, she's going to cheer T.K., and she's not going to want to spend time with me. Still, it would just be a nice thing to do.... His decision made, Davis cleared his throat. _

_Oh no. I forgot Davis was there. Now he's going to want to go with me, when all I really want to do is keep my promise to T.K. Great. It's not that Davis is mean or anything, he's really a good friend, it's just that I can't take this tonight. Kari couldn't help but let skepticism skate across her expression._

"I was just thinking Kari. Um…" Uncharacteristically, Davis hesitated, his seemingly bottomless supply of courage going dry. "You know, we could both go and cheer T.K.'s team on if you want." Though she didn't mean to, Kari stared at Davis, unsure of how to process the information. Both cheer…? What she failed to notice was Tai smirking knowingly behind her.

"You really mean it Davis? You'll come and help me cheer for T.K.?" Kari tried to make sure this wasn't a dream or a hallucination. Spurred on by his initial success, Davis agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah. Even T.K.'s got to be better than whoever that other team is. Besides, Digidestined need to help each other out, right?" He nodded as if there was no other answer.

"Right. Thanks Davis. I'll tell my parents and meet you at the door." Still not sure if it was really Davis and not some alien that had taken the form of him, Kari decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

"I'll be there in a second." Davis answered cheerily, as he rushed out of the room. 

"Have fun you two!" Tai called devilishly after them. Maybe he should give Sora a few pointers….

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Wow T.K. I can't believe you actually won! You were great!" Kari congratulated after the epic basketball game.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without you and Davis. Truth be told, I didn't expect you to be there Davis, much less routing for me. I really appreciate it." T.K. made sure that he addressed the strange phenomenon that was probably more noteworthy than the actual game.

"Yeah, well," Davis blushed. "I figured that watching you might give me a few pointers so I can beat you in gym class one day. You know, study my opponents weakness." 

"You don't really mean that!" T.K. joked, halfway. This wasn't like Davis.

"Well, yeah, and I guess I thought that I could just do this to be nice. You know, help Kari out." What greeted this last statement were two blank stares from either side of him. _Was I really that much of a jerk before? Boy, no wonder Kari kept blowing me off. Well, no more! And I guess that T.K.'s not as bad as he seems either._

_ _

_"Well thanks Davis." Kari began to get uneasy again as they neared her families apartment. The old Davis would try to pull of some stunt as she said goodnight, but she didn't know about this new Davis. The much improved, more natural Davis. Now that he wasn't trying to impress her he could be more himself or so she thought. She had even noticed at the game that he had truly been routing for T.K.'s team, not the half-hearted cheering she had expected. It was the best present he had ever tried to give her._

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow Kari." Davis said admirably restraining himself from trying anything stupid in the way of a good night anything. He turned to leave.

"Yeah, I'd better head on home too." T.K. added and turned to go off in a different direction.

"Wait!" Kari couldn't stop herself from calling out. T.K. was out of earshot already, but Davis turned around.

"Yeah?" he asked, hopeful.

"Davis, I just wanted to say thank you for what you did tonight. It was really nice of you, you don't know how much I appreciate it." She flashed him a smile and then turned around.

"No problem!" Davis yelled back. He couldn't believe it. Kari had actually thanked him and halfway complimented him all at the same time! Tai was right; the way to get to a girl's heart was by simply being kind. It wasn't all that hard, and Davis found that he actually enjoyed it. Now he just had to work up to his next goal, a good night kiss. With this way of doing things it might take awhile, but it's only a matter of time….


End file.
